Quiet-time suprathermal ions in the inner heliosphere during the rising phase of solar cycle 25

Context. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft made its first close perihelion passes in 2022, reaching 0.32 au on 26 March and 0.29 au on 12 October. Transient activity was relatively low, making it possible to perform measurements of the quiet-time suprathermal ion pool over multi-day periods.Aims. The inn...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Mason, G. M., Ho, George C., Allen, Robert C., Kouloumvakos, A., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/67101
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/67101
https://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202345978
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Acceleration of particles
Sun: heliosphere
Sun: particle emission
Interplanetary medium
Física
Physics
Descripción
Sumario:Context. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft made its first close perihelion passes in 2022, reaching 0.32 au on 26 March and 0.29 au on 12 October. Transient activity was relatively low, making it possible to perform measurements of the quiet-time suprathermal ion pool over multi-day periods.Aims. The inner heliosphere suprathermal ion pool is a source of seed particles accelerated by coronal mass ejection-driven shocks. Determining its constituents and their dependence on solar activity, location, and time is therefore critical to building physical models of particle acceleration from solar events.Methods. By selecting low-activity periods on Solar Orbiter during perihelia passes, and comparing them with a nearly identical monitoring instrument at 1 au, the observed differences in intensities can be related to factors such as distance from the Sun, transient events, and interacting solar wind streams.Results. Below similar to 1 MeV/nucleon, the observed quiet-time spectra at 0.32 au for H, He-4, He-3, and Fe rise toward low energies, as observed previously during longer periods at 1 au, and they show a heavy ion composition that has markers of impulsive solar flare material, such as relatively high He-3:He-4, and a high Fe/O ratio. The proton and helium abundances are much higher, consistent with a source in corotating interaction regions. Surveying all semi-quiet times during the mission, there is only a modest (similar to 15%) increase in the fluences in the inner heliosphere compared to 1 au, indicating small gradients in these populations between 1 and 0.3 au.